Arkansas Business

Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock, the publicly traded bank holding company, earned $18 million in the first quarter, an increase of 23 percent over the same period in 2011 despite not having any bank acquisitions to boost the bottom line.

Diluted earnings per share were 52 cents, an increase of almost 21 percent when adjusted for the two-for-one stock split that was effective in August.

Last year's first-quarter earnings were $14.6 million, which included an after-tax gain of about $1 million on the FDIC-assisted acquisition of Oglethorpe Bank of Brunswick, Ga. This year's first-quarter results even exceeded 2010's, when the company's $16 million bottom line included a $5.9 million from the acquisition of yet another failed bank.

"We are pleased to report another excellent quarter. Outstanding performance throughout our Company resulted in solid first quarter earnings and significant improvement in our asset quality ratios," Chairman and CEO George Gleason said in a news release announcing the results.

The tale of the tape: return on average assets of 1.91 percent, up form 1.77 percent a year earlier; return on equity of 16.75 percent, down from 18.16 percent in the first quarter of 2011.